This invention relates to a metal seal assembly which is useful in high temperature, corrosive environments for sealing the annular space between concentric tubular well members as between a casing hanger and a casing head.
A variety of packing assemblies and metal seals have heretofore been employed for sealing in a wellhead. In most wellhead applications of packing assemblies which include metal seal rings, the rings are compressed in the vertical direction between vertically opposed annular radial shoulders of the concentric tubular members of the wellhead and loading of the seal ring is provided by the weight of the inner tubing or casing string. In other applications, activation of the metal seal rings to effect a seal is induced by non-metallic members which lose reliability at high temperatures and in corrosive environments.